Ethics in Flight Instructing

 January 10, 2024

    I will be talking about the crash of a PA28 on September 27th, 2023 that killed a CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) Timothy McKeller Jr. (22),  and his student Connor Quisenberry (18). This incident especially hit home to me because I too, am a young flight instructor, and the actions of the flight instructor in this crash were unethical and frankly disgusting. This accident and the ethical problems are a bit different than the other ones my classmates mentioned because it isn't a problem with a large corporation making shortcuts in safety in a trade-off for more money or efficiency, but rather more personal ethics, or lack of ethics. The instructor and his student were doing a night cross-country flight in Kentucky, and while the student was pre-flighting the aircraft, the instructor took videos of him insulting and belittling his student for taking too long, making fun of his intelligence and using offensive terms to describe this student. These mean-spirited Snapchat posts kept coming as they took off and counted the flight, until they flew into a thunderstorm, and encountered extreme turbulence. "McKellar advised ATC that the airplane was “getting blown around like crazy.” The airplane’s flight track showed a turn to the northwest, followed by a right circling turn. The controller reiterated the heading of 090 degrees. McKellar replied that they were in “pretty extreme turbulence.”"(Godlewski, 2023). They then crashed, killing the student and the CFI. Below is a picture that the instructor posted to his story shortly before the crash.

                                              

    To start with in the aviation industry we should never belittle or rush students for doing a thorough preflight as that is such a crucial safety aspect of our flight. The cruel and unprofessional actions of the instructor before and during the flight toward the poor student were incredibly unethical. As flight instructors, we have an ethical responsibility to support our students and fellow pilots. This falls into one of Merriam-Webster's definitions of ethics "the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation" (Merriam-Webster, 2024). This instructor failed his "moral duty and obligation" to not only let a situation get so unsafe that they crashed but also exhibited such a toxic attitude towards the student that we as flight instructors should never exhibit. This event is a tragic reminder that flight instructors are stewards of aviation and we need to act with a code of ethics that not only keeps us and those students who entrust our lives to us safe but encourages the next generation of pilots to keep pursuing their goals without the fear of being belittled and misguided.

Godlewski, M. (2023, October 19). NTSB preliminary report on Kentucky Fatal Crash released. FLYING Magazine. https://www.flyingmag.com/ntsb-preliminary-report-on-kentucky-fatal-crash-released/ 

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ethic definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic